Seth Udinski, FISM News
Former Las Vegas Raiders head coach Jon Gruden is suing the NFL and league commissioner Roger Goodell for defamation, according to reports that surfaced over the weekend.
In early October, emails surfaced from ten years ago in which Gruden used racist and inappropriate language. Many believe that Gruden was given no choice but to resign, due to the firestorm of the NFL’s recently implemented social justice campaign, which he did in the days immediately following the release. Gruden’s resignation came in the middle of his second stint with the Raiders, when the team was 3-2 and on track for its most successful season in his second tenure.
Many have expressed anger over the apparent double standard the league is displaying, having pushed Gruden out but still allowing numerous players who’ve committed child and sexual abuse to remain employed. In the wake of Gruden’s resignation, the NFLPA called upon the NFL to re-open its case against rampant reports of toxicity within the Washington Football Team.
Late last week, Gruden filed a suit against the league and Commissioner Goodell in the Clark County District Court in Nevada. Gruden claims Goodell and the NFL inexplicably targeted him to destroy his reputation. He also claims, as many others do, that the league leaked the emails to force him out.
Gruden’s attorney said,
The complaint alleges that the defendants selectively leaked Gruden’s private correspondence to the Wall Street Journal and New York Times in order to harm Gruden’s reputation and force him out of his job. There is no explanation or justification for why Gruden’s emails were the only ones made public out of the 650,000 emails collected in the NFL’s investigation of the Washington Football Team or for why the emails were held for months before being released in the middle of the Raiders’ season.
At this point, the damages Gruden is attempting to win have not yet been revealed. For its part, the NFL is not backing down, saying it “will vigorously defend against these claims.”